Citation

Author Website

http://www.ut.edu/scotthusband/

Commentary Type

Invited Commentary

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Michael L. Woodruff, Consciousness in teleosts: There is something it feels like to be a fish

Abstract

From the perspective of a comparative neuroanatomist studying the avian pallium, Woodruff’s (2017) claims about the behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for teleost sentience blur the lines between phenomenal and access consciousness (Block, 1995). I discuss the bias that complex cognition can only arise in the cortical layering typical of the mammalian pallium and conclude that Woodruff makes a good case that the tecto-pallial connections in teleosts are sufficiently complex to support something like sentience.

Author Biography

Scott A. Husband, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Tampa, works on comparative neuroanatomy and cognition: how neural circuits and neurochemistry contribute to complex cognition, within the larger context of brain evolution in non-mammalian species, especially birds.

http://www.ut.edu/scotthusband/